Chinese tourists are more valued and respected by foreigners after 10 years?

Guangzhou Daily did a piece of news on April 6th comparing the change of Chinese tourists’ spending overseas in the last decade to that of their European, American, and Japanese counterparts, and came to conclude that the radical change reflects the change of status of Chinese tourists from being despised to being valued and respected. Dissents on the conclusion soon followed, clearing the difference between being valued and being respected.

The chart attached in the news shows the average consumptions by Chinese tourists are 1) 3000 USD in France, triples that by European and American tourists; 2) 2200 USD in Australia comparing to only 712 USD by Japanese tourists; 3) and 1276 USD in Korea.

Here is the story. Ten years ago, foreign hotels out of despise set up “specific areas” for Chinese tourists; nowadays when invited by foreign tourism bureau Chinese get to stay in the most luxurious hotels of that place while their western counterparts be arranged to relatively less starred or rural ones. The world views Chinese tourists in a completely different way now, more and more countries are paying double attention to Chinese tourist market, value and respect Chinese tourists.

One day ten years ago, Cai Zezhou went to a north European country for business negotiation, he recalled: “I was going to canteen for breakfast when a waiter gestured me to go to the buffet at ground floor. I didn’t mind at the time until later when I found out that all whites are dining on the second floor and all Chinese are at ground floor.” The hotel set up a specific area for Chinese because they think some whites may not be happy dining with Chinese in the same canteen. What’s more the food variety in the specific area was much fewer but priced the same. Cai Zezhou felt insulted so he when to the manager who didn’t show much concern to about Cai’s complain at first until Cai broke a plate angrily then the manager showed him to second floor.

“It is common in the preliminary phrase of China’s Reform and Opening up.” Said Wang Jian, spokesman of Guangdong China Travel, “the existence of “specific area” for Chinese is mainly due to culture differences, for instance, Chinese like to speak loudly when dine while westerners enjoy quiet meal.”

Last year, Cai Zezhou accompanied his wife shopping in a luxurious pro shop in France, they were surprised to be received by shopping guide that spoke Chinese; same thing happened in Italy where a guide approach them and began detail introduction as soon as he heard Chinese, leaving other tourists aside. Cai added: “There are signs in Chinese everywhere in Sydney Airport; local people are willing to take the initiative to speak Chinese; and they provide Australian Declaration Card in Chinese on international flights.”

Xie Qian as a experienced outbound travel guide has deep feeling about the change of Chinese tourists’ status “Foreign hotels of high class used to feed on western tourists, now they count on Chinese tourists so they are getting more and more considerate for us.” She said lots of minor changes can tell that Chinese tourists are being valued, for example, Helsinki Airport of Finland now has signs in Chinese character; there is even Chinese broadcast in some Japanese airport; Switzerland mall Luzern has a sign that read “恭喜发财” (gong xi fa cai, greeting in New Year) stuck in the front.

Wen Qian, vice manager of Guang Zhi Lv (广之旅, alleged biggest travel agency in Southern China) also notices the difference. One time she was invited for a expeditionary tour by a country, she was arranged to stay in a six star hotel and assigned a interpreter throughout the tour, while her western counterparts of the tour can only stayed in three star ones located on the outskirt of the city. She said: “We are treated better because the Chinese tourists market is getting bigger with world’s No.1 growth rate.”

Overseas Chinese Cai Wei attributed the change of China’s status and image to the 2008 Olympic Game, he believed the Game did a great job in promoting China, and Shanghai World Expo and Guangzhou Asian Game will go on generating positive impression for China.

Professor Huang Yunte is also a oversea Chinese, he wrote a book on Cantonese living in the US, he told the reporter: “I published the book not long ago, the editor is American who asked me ‘do Chinese people think American is stupid?’. It is true that Americans think highly of Chinese, they used to admire Japanese, but now Chinese are no less lower than Japanese in terms of position in their mind.”

However Professor Liu Wei from Guangdong University of Finance thought that shopping malls, hotels and restaurants are all chasing after profit, whichever country will be willing to provide superb service for a certain countries’ tourists as long as the tourists can bring huge economic benefits. “The respect only stays on surface.” he added, “there are still many bad behavior with Chinese tourists, such as talking aloud in western restaurants, dressing improperly on some formal occasions. Apart from business units, lots of foreigners still hold discrimination against Chinese. Only when we get rid of these uncivilized habits can we gain foreigners respect in real sense.”

The day before yesterday I was having dinner with my Singaporean friends when one of them expressed his deep impression of Shenzhen’s tourist site Window of the World where mini replicas of world famous spots gather. He said if you focus your camera to the mini Eiffel Tower without taking in any Chinese tourists, you will think it is the real Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Immediately another friend objected and said there should be as many Chinese tourists as possible in the photo to resemble the real one. He also pointed out that it was mostly Chinese in the lines that wait outside LV head store at Avenue des Champs-Elysees, Paris will not be Paris without Chinese tourists.

In Hong Kong, things are no more different. In the past, Hong Kong people don’t like to do business with mainland tourists and call them “Ah Chan” out of the bias that mainland people are poor. But now they make sure that all employees at the store can speak Mandarin so that mainland tourists as their “god of wealth” can enjoy good service.

As for Europe, the US, Japan and Korea, it is common to see signs and guides written in Chinese. They know well about Chinese tourist buying behavior. I remember one time I was travelling in Jizhou Island, Korea, the shop assistant mistakenly think I was a Chinese and shout out at me “有发票，进来看（Come and see, we have invoice）.”

These occasions revealed that Chinese tourists are everywhere around the world now, and they are being more valued by overseas tourist markets. (then the author quoted from gzdaily, see Para 3 above) However I don’t think there is a equal mark between this “value” and “respect”. Chinese tourists are spending money overseas of course they will be valued, but to gain respect, they have to do more than just squandering money.

A friend of mine working in hotel business told me that hotel employees prefer western tourists to mainland people not because they fancy exotic culture but westerners do score higher in manners, westerners respond to their greetings and praise as well as tip them for good service; in occasions of dissatisfaction, western tourists tend to be more patient and listen to their explanation or accept apologies, unlike some mainland tourists who don’t even try to listen just set out to scold, thinking they are somebody just because they pay.

Another friend of mine as a tour guide in Singapore once said that lots of Chinese tourists come to Singapore just to shop, in brand pro stores especially, they are not interested in other things. Singapore is renowned shopping world of course, but it is a little bit shallow for Chinese tourists to go there to shop only. Singapore is a multicultural country with various cultural tastes to offer, if Chinese tourists don’t take the opportunity to embrace the culture to improve their knowledge, they can only continue with being valued but not necessarily respected. Many western tourists are respected there because they are willing to get to know and appreciate local culture, as well as to get closer to local people.

Rednet once did a commentary saying people do not necessarily embrace manners and indentify honor against shame even when they are full and warm. (Chinese proverb “仓禀实，知礼节；衣食足，知荣辱” suggests positive relation between spiritual wealth and material wealth). Many people view their status higher than others when they have money in hand, and take it for granted that they deserve more respect from others. But they forget that a chair, no matter it is made of gold or diamond, is no more than just a chair, nobody will pay tribune to it.

Chinese manners are somewhat better, but none radical change in genera. But why they are received differently so soon overseas? It takes 3 years to foster a big cat, but even 3 generations can not guarantee to hatch a gentleman. From being despised in the last decade to being valued today, a big turn as such is probably just boosted by money.

It is simple to be valued, as long as you are rich, this is a realistic world; but to be respected is far more difficult because money can not buy others’ respect. It is true that the number of civilized and respectable Chinese tourists is rising, but foreigners look at Chinese as a whole, therefore to become member of that respectable group, all Chinese people have to try and participate to learn how to respect other people no matter poor or rich and others’ cultures from the bottom of their hearts, and abandon the thought that being able to squander makes them somebody.

” Ten years ago, foreign hotels out of despise set up “specific areas” for Chinese tourists; nowadays when invited by foreign tourism bureau Chinese get to stay in the most luxurious hotels of that place while their western counterparts be arranged to relatively less starred or rural ones.”

Made up story.

” The hotel set up a specific area for Chinese because they think some whites may not be happy dining with Chinese in the same canteen.”

Bullshit. I can’t imagine any hotels in Europe who would do this. If any division was made it would only be because Chinese people prefer different food than most westerners.

Oh wait,, come to think of it there might be another reason. I have been to buffets here in China and seeing how the Chinese generally behave in such an environment there might be something to it. Last time I went with my former neighbour in Guanzhou. One of those Brazilian all-you-can-eat places. He loaded up 5 kilos of meat on three plates (vegetables? bread? No way! Meat is the expensive thing. You shouldn’t eat anything else) sat at the table for 3 hours and had to leave half of it in the end feeling absolutely gutted that he didn’t get more “value” for his money. Afterwards he phoned me pissed off at the restaurant for making him constipated for 3 days. I couldn’t stop laughing.

Honestly it’s hard to appreciate the “study” and the rest of the article after reading such crap in the beginning of it.

Regarding the “bad manners” of Chinese tourists they have very surprising rivals!
A recent research among tourism agencies showed that the most disliked tourists in the wrold are French(!) cause they are thought to be arrogant, bad at foreign languages and greedy.
Here is the link – http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE56829Z20090709

I have heard about the separating Chinese tourists from white people thing before from media and friends so the article is not groundless rumor. And this doesn’t surprise me given the reputation of certain European countries’ attitude towards religious and ethnic groups. Explanation I heard is that some European customers can’t stand group Chinese tourists “making noise” in dinner. I say it’s culture difference. For Chinese, eating is a part of social networking where people meet new friends, cement the ties with old friends, do serious business and talk about family affairs. It’s so important that Chinese people often greet each other with 今天你吃了吗？(have you eaten today?) as an intimation that “we can go eat together and talk”. Being exuberant and active in dinner is always a Chinese culture: Chinese people invented a variety of 行酒令 (drinking games) as early as 1100BC. Those games for scholars are called 雅令 (like doing Impromptu) and those for common folks are called 俗令. You can read more about Chinese dinner games from

As to the Chinese tourists getting favorable treatment from spending more, I have two thumbs up. It’s always good to have nonviolent ways to ‘counterbalance’ discrimination. “If you don’t treat me equally, I will purchase your restaurant and have you a Chinese boss”. LOL.

Actually, China is getting richer but GuoBao is correct, hardly any Chinese are super rich and if they are, it’s most likely cause they have relations to the government of some sort and store the money. And once again, China isn’t the most rich at all, just take a look at its GDP per capita, it doesn’t even rank at the top 50s nor the top 70s so basically you are making yourself look bad, even if China does have a lot of purchasing power, once again, it’s GDP per capita is low, quite low in fact, so be ashamed Wang Er, you ignorant child wo uses acronyms.

Funny you would say:
“Explanation I heard is that some European customers can’t stand group Chinese tourists “making noise” in dinner. I say it’s culture difference. For Chinese, eating is a part…”

Bla bla bla…
How many times have I heard here in China “When in Rome…”

Even the Chinese government has been sending out list of Do’s and Don’ts for Chinese tourists when traveling overseas. Included in those lists are instructions for tourists to not spit in public, use a quieter voice indoors, not to walk three or four abreast on sidewalks.

I’d say more of those signs in Chinese are a result of people getting sick and tired of dealing with rude, loud Chinese tourists making a mess of things. For example, Chinese language signs in hotels which read “Do not use bed sheets to polish shoes.”

We don’t say “When in Rome …” but 入乡随俗 (follow their rules when visit a different place) in Chinese, and that’s probably you haven’t heard it many time in China if you don’t speak much Chinese. No, we say 入乡随俗 a lot.

My point is, unlike an European tourist visiting another European country with *similar* customs (like dress code and dinner policy), many Chinese visitors are unfamiliar with the ‘rules’ in the counties visited. I’m not saying Chinese tourist should neglect other counties’ rules and do whatever they like, but telling the Chinese side of story, that why speaking aloud is not a problem in China and the reason some Chinese were bringing that habit abroad arises from their ignorance of local custom but not deliberately pissing off their host. Mutual understands are needed.

I have not problem if loud group tourists are allocated in a different dinning place from individual travelers in a hotel, but I’m against offering fewer variety of food with same price as Mr. Cai experienced in the article, and I’m against moving *all* Chinese travelers to a separate dinning area based on their ethnic group no matter if they are individual travelers/loud speakers or not. This *is* discrimination by definition.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying spiting in public, talking aloud to disturb other guests in hotel rooms or polishing shoes with bed sheets (gosh is that real?) is OK in China. Most Chinese hate such behavior. However, you can’t just label all Chinese tourists with the same tag that few of them have earned with their bad habits. Doing so is a part of ignorance on the host side.

“many Chinese visitors are unfamiliar with the ‘rules’ in the counties visited.”

So LEARN! Is it really that bloody hard to open google and do a quick search on basic manners for where you’re going?

“I’m against moving *all* Chinese travelers to a separate dinning area based on their ethnic group no matter if they are individual travelers/loud speakers or not. This *is* discrimination by definition.”

Yeah it would be like making all Mexicans get quarentined even though they aren’t all sick… oh wait…

Um… How about it would be like arresting all Black people in Sanlitun before the Olympics instead of just arresting the drug dealers… haha right… China does that too…

I don’t agree with discrimination but it’s hard to feel sorry for Chinese when foreigners in China get treated with huge amounts of discrimination as well.

Darling “eating is part of social networking” in many countries such as my of origin Italy. Having lived and traveled throughout many countries in Europe I never came across hotels who discriminated Chinese segregating them in different eating ares. However, since living in China for almost 3 years I must say if such incidents ever occurred maybe they were a result of the appealing table manners that some Chinese seem to posses. Spitting around, trowing food on the floor, being loud and rowdy and treating waiters as slaves are not acceptable ways of behaving in good restaurants… Having said this also many westerners would be better off improving their table manners

My Chinese friends in college always used to go to casino buffets and ONLY eat the king crab legs, because it was the most expensive thing. They’d spend like 2-3 hours there just eating crab, it was hilarious.

White people would do the same. I worked in a buffet, trust me on this. I’ve also seen people, white people (I’m mentioning white since ur making a racial distinction) so fat that they’d need to be moved on a wheelchair, loading pile after pile of meat on their plates.

most 5 star hotels I’ve been to, have many level for different packages paid for. When you pay for basic package cheaper than normal it was ground floor buffet. I you for the business suite. The buffet is out of the of the question. But if you paid for luxury sweet they usually have a smaller room setup just for the rich people on higher floor usually the sixteenth floor. Where you get half as much food and but plenty of free wine to go around and services you can’t get on any other floor. Its really not a matter of separating the chinese from the whites. But a hotels job is to comfort the guest in anyway possible. If it means demographically placing people together accordingly that is supposed to the idea. Fuck respect from strangers. If you feel uncomfortable be civil about it.

Group tourism always get this treatment because they are a burden for the rest of the average patron. They all come and line up at the same time. Space becomes scarce, people who paid top tier money for services are getting neglected by the flow of a large enthusiastic crowd of group tourist. Then there is the constant smoking, indoor spitting yelling, staring, pointing and picture taking from the chinese groups especially when they see people they would not normally see. I had this experience when I went to San Diego’s Old Town. I thought I was had left them in beijing they got a kick out my black ass. Im in many photo albums across Asia baby.

“brand pro stores” …You only use “pro store” if you’re talking about a “pro shop,” which is a golf store. You should probably translate as “luxury brand stores.”

I think most people back in the US or Europe (who have never been to China or seen Chinese in their element) don’t really have respect nor disrespect for Chinese people. Once you see them spitting, dressing like shit, yelling at each other, and ganbei’ing red wine you start to lose respect. All of China’s money can’t buy class.

Haha true that, I thought Chinese people were great, I didn’t realize why so many Koreans hated on them- until I moved to China. You could be in the middle of Mongolian grasslands but the second two people start arguing or fighting you’ll get rows of spectators 6 deep to get their entertainment.

That said, the social expectations for your nearest bar are quite different from the average restaurant or even tourist attraction. Surely I would have fit in well with the average Chinese when I was a child (with a very loud and piercing voice even indoors), but my parents trained me out of that before I reached maturity.

Unlike China (and to some extend the US), money will not get you respect and consideration in europe. The other problem is that many Chinese tourists do not change their habits when travelling abroad: yelling at the table, burping loudly at the table or when leaving the table, spitting on the floor, lacking respect for the restaurant staff, etc.

That said part of the article is the usual ‘China now has a lot of face abroad’ propaganda and actually so far the Chinese tourists spending in europe has been below what the tourism industry was expecting. Most of them comes in tours that zip thru many countries in the shortest time possible and at the lowest cost possible.

As for the american tourists, while they do not spit and burp, they are oftten too loud and proud abroad. And i am sure they are worst than the french when it comes to foreign language (remember english is a foreign language in all of europe except UK).

Not really, english is still widely used in placed other than the UK. Maybe you should zip thru europe. It very accommodating for english speakers, on a far greater level than lets say China and Korea put together. From Amsterdam to France I didn’t have a problem communicating with the local at all. Well maybe the strong fucking accents in Paris but english is far more advance than I thought they would be.

Well you did not read me well: i did not say that europeans cannot speak english outside UK. I said that’s not the native language as a ‘reminder’ to some american travellers who feel upset when someone cannot speak their language well enough.

I live in europe so i understand the linguistic situation at least as well as the average tourist who ‘zips thru europe’. So yes, the education level here is higher than in the US, and most europeans can speak 1 or 2 foreign languages and english is likely to be one of these. I also know china fairly well and i agree with your comparison.

As for the strong accent of the french people, first it is not as pathetic as the accent of many americans attempting to say 3 words in french. Second they feel their language is nicer and richer than english, so they cannot leave it completely behind when speaking english. Third, the fact that many native english speakers do actually like the french accent does not encourage them to improve their elocution in english.

i’d have to agree with you on all points made. Allot of my fellow Americans can’t seem to get the accent down for french or any other language and I get embarrassed to be around those that have been in a certain country for over 5 years, married to a native and still linguistically suck . There are the exceptions but rare to say the most.

To be honest with you french is a beautiful tongue to hear but I fucking hated learning it. I didn’t want to learn spanish because I already knew it but California’s curriculum to graduate was 2 years foreign language and to get into UCLA preferred 1 advanced placement course. So I had picked french just to be different and to be compliant and I never had to apply it even in France. If I had stayed longer it probably be a different story.

“The hotel set up a specific area for Chinese because they think some whites may not be happy dining with Chinese in the same canteen.”

Ten years ago? In Europe? I can assure everyone that, as GuoBao has already said, this is utter nonsense and a total fabrication – just like those bullshit stories about the French during the Carrefour episode two years ago.

‘Earlier irresponsible reports of Chinese men having tiny, tiny penises are not only in direct contrast to the facts, but are harmful to Sino-US sexual relations. I can personally assure you that the many Chinese penises I have tried were simply enormous, staggering in both length and girth.’ said Jiang at the press conference.

A recent poll conducted by experts at CHINADaily have also recently confirmed this fact, with 80% of respondents listing themselves between 8-10″ (cun), and the other 20% were surveyed as ‘larger than any of the listed options.’

Any way I would have to agree, because I have been shamed by many china men at the GYM. They like to stare so I stare back. Chinese are pretty good at staring at dicks and point how small mine was. But then they leave it at that. 8-10 inches no. But they are bigger than japanese porn stars limp. Can’t vouch for erect china man, thank God but Im sure every race has their big men. I think the stereo type is the difference between the extremely huge cocks from the west and not so huge here in asia. In fact there was a serious study or survey done some people that release similar information in the US. It was broadcasted on SPIKE tv. Chinese beat out another nation I forget by 2 inches. China penises fall in the average size margin.

But you still have to think most stereo types do have some real grounds and facts to them. Even if you were joking I still take you serious.

During my trip to Cambodia, some of the local workers told me how they loathed Chinese people in the hotels and how they shoved, spat and talked loudly in their temples–even though there were signs all over the place in Chinese saying not to.

I think it was even worse because most of the Chinese there saw themselves as superior to the Cambodian people. Yes, the Cambodians were poor and some of the places weren’t very clean, but at least the men didn’t shove me aside so they could take a photo or get food first.

Cracker/YT and their penis comparison. Don’t you little boys ever get tired of always talking about penis? Seems to me like the only thing Cracker has that is bigger than Chinese dudes is the homosexual population.

Funny about the “有发票” thing. I have heard that a couple times before and didn’t believe it… but it was about prostitutes in Amsterdam. And they neglected to mention that the point of mentioning 有发票 is that these big spenders are touring on public funds.

The reason Chinese are given their own dining hall may well partly be to do with their hatred of all foreign food, but is mainly because the international community doesan’t want to eat with dirty people who spit yellow phlegm all over the tables, chairs and floors. Also, since China is a highly-discriminatory country where foreigners are not allowed to stay in guesthouses and are rarely allowed to pay the same price as foreigners, I think we can reciprocate quite happily in our discrimination of our slit-eyed goon visitors.

The overwhelming majority of Chinese tourists overseas still arrive in foreign countries on full-package or semi-package tours i.e. their meals and rooms are already arranged and included. This is often done by the tour company with getting the best possible price in mind. This is why it is extremely common for Chinese tourists (a group) to be shown to a different buffet or be seated in a different part of the restaurant; their tour company didnt pay the full price so they dont get the full experience.

It has less than nothing to do with race or background. If they had walked as a guest without a piece of paper in effect saying “Good for 20pax- please redeem with tour company” then they would have received the same meal.

/In the past, Hong Kong people don’t like to do business with mainland tourists and call them “Ah Chan” out of the bias that mainland people are poor./

What is this past you speak of? I was born in Hong Kong, but my grandparents are from Mainland China. Most Hong Kongers have grandparents and parents from Mainland China – and it is because of this closeness that Hong Kong was brought to tears over the Tiananmen Square massacre – because they have relatives and friends there. It is because of this closeness that during the famine, Hong Kongers that are still poor in the Post War times, brought what they have to COUSINS who have even less in Mainland, to their brother and sisters, aunts and uncles or even parents.

Leon Lai was from Beijing, and he’s one of Hong Kong entertainment’s “Four Sky Kings”, during the 80s and 90s – to this date, lots of women still fancy him. Mandarin pop songs made the top charts in Hong Kong in the 80s.

Many Hong Kongers are against the PRC /party/, but the ones that are against the /people/ of mainland are a minority that tends to be young. I’ve seen that video of the ignorant Hong Kong guys harassing innocent mainland tourists with the ‘locust song’ – they are young, they probably don’t remember that their great grandparents are from China, or their Chinese grandparents died early – it’s even possible that their PARENTS are from Mainland and they don’t get along!

Doing business…my grandfathers were Chinese from Mainland – they both did business in Hong Kong just fine, as are some of my uncles who arrived a bit later.

Anti-Chinese sentiment in Hong Kong is a really new thing. It was impossible for my parents’s generation (born 60s-70s) to feel superior to Mainlanders or feel cold blooded about the fate of China, because their parents are from China and they also have aunts and uncles there. I’m the first generation (80s-90s after) that has lost touch with the blood relations I have in Mainland, but I still have my grandmother from Mainland China!

It is true that SOME Chinese from Mainland have behaved poorly, but some are good – my grandmother is one of them!

Ironically, anti-Chinese sentiment probably didn’t exist until at least a decade after the British left! Mandarin was to the Hong Konger what French is to the English – it’s in some pop songs, a lot of them soft love songs! Especially the ones by Leon Lai.

Example: this Leon Lai song starts with a Cantonese narration, and then its the Mandarin romantic song – note the traditional Chinese caption. Leon Lai’s Mandarin songs are very popular in Hong Kong, Mandarin love songs from Chinese artists is a huge subgenre in HK – it’s used even in Cantonese movies.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYY0_ELK3SY

Another one, Beijing born Faye Wong is a hugely respected and loved star in Hong Kong, and her “I’m willing” song is a huge hit. Cantonese is the official language of Hong Kong and HK will insist on it staying their dominate dialect for every day use, but Mandarin is actually considered exotic and romantic, it sounds softer and more romantic in songs than the more fighty Cantonese:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyNIlRNiVR4